David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

In Minister Plibersek's second reading speech she stated one of the objectives of this amendment is to 'support countries without storage capacity to reduce their atmospheric admissions by allowing the export of carbon dioxide streams to countries with available sub-seabed geological storage formations'. My concern is that Australia appears to have a great deal of storage capacity. Conservative estimates put the total at 740 billion tonnes. In 2021, five areas for offshore greenhouse gas storage in Commonwealth waters were identified off the coast of WA and the NT. If this bill is about storage capacity, why is the government proceeding with it, given that we have so much storage capacity right here in Australia?